RE

As a church school, we regard the teaching of Religious Education (RE) as an essential and integral part of our school life. We have adopted the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education syllabus for Church of England schools as the foundation for our RE teaching for several reasons:

1. Balanced Curriculum: The syllabus provides an equitable balance between the teaching of Christianity and other faiths, with a 50% focus on Christianity and a 50% focus on World Faiths. This ensures that students gain a comprehensive understanding of the faiths around them.

2. Comprehensive Information: It offers a solid foundation of information, enabling staff to teach all areas of RE with sensitivity and thorough knowledge. This comprehensive approach ensures that the diverse religious and cultural backgrounds of our students are respected and understood.

3. Progressive Teaching: The scheme is designed to be progressive, allowing staff to clearly focus on specific aims and objectives at each stage of the curriculum. This structured progression helps in the continuous development of students' understanding and appreciation of religious concepts.

4. Skill Development: We believe the syllabus equips children with the skills, knowledge, and experiences necessary to make informed choices in their own exploration of life and faith. It encourages critical thinking and personal reflection, which are vital for their spiritual and moral development.

5. Holistic Learning: The syllabus fosters a culture of exploration and discovery, encouraging children to learn more about themselves, others, the world, and God. This approach nurtures curiosity and a lifelong love of learning, helping students to become well-rounded individuals.

By adopting this syllabus, we ensure that our RE curriculum is not only academically rigorous but also deeply enriching, supporting the holistic development of our students in line with our school's Christian ethos.

 

The threefold aim of RE elaborates the principal aim.

The curriculum for RE aims to ensure that all pupils:

1. make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs, so that they can:
• identify, describe, explain and analyse beliefs and concepts in the context of living religions, using appropriate vocabulary
• explain how and why these beliefs are understood in different ways, by individuals and within communities
• recognise how and why sources of authority (e.g. texts, teachings, traditions, leaders) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, developing skills of interpretation

2. understand the impact and significance of religious and non-religious beliefs, so that they can:
• examine and explain how and why people express their beliefs in diverse ways
• recognise and account for ways in which people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, in their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world
• appreciate and appraise the significance of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning

3. make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts, practices and ideas studied, so that they can:
• evaluate, reflect on and enquire into key concepts and questions studied, responding thoughtfully and creatively, giving good reasons for their responses
• challenge the ideas studied, and allow the ideas studied to challenge their own thinking, articulating beliefs, values and commitments clearly in response
• discern possible connections between the ideas studied and their own ways of understanding the world, expressing their critical responses and personal reflections with increasing clarity and understanding

 For more information about RE, including your right to withdraw, please see the RE policy.

As a church school our Christian Values are at the centre of everything we do. They help us to live out our Christian Vision of ‘life in all its fullness’. Each half term, we focus on a different Christian Value. Our 5 Christian Values are: Care, Respect, Love, Compassion and Forgiveness. 

This half term we are looking at the Value of 'Compassion'

This is done explicitly through our Collective Worship time, but also throughout our curriculum. Children have regular opportunities to reflect on each value and to develop an understanding of the Value in action.

Each Friday, in our Celebration Worship, we acknowledge children who have demonstrated these values. We believe these values are empowering our pupils to develop their spirituality and guiding them in personal development as effective learners and good citizens.

Our school values of Respect, Challenge, Self-believe and Excellence are displayed all around our school and helps us to think of our purpose here at Christ Church. It helps us to live out the New Commandment that Jesus gave us:

 

In line with the requirements of the Education Reform Act, our children take part in daily collective worship. On Monday, collective worship takes place in class. On Tuesday and Thursday, collective worship is carried out in assemblies where children can reflect together. On Wednesday we have our singing assembly and Friday is our Celebration assembly. Collective worship is carried out in class throughout the week. Each class have the opportunity to work on our talk promises and lead our focus each week. Our reflection time includes acts of Christian worship such as prayers and hymns. Our Collective Worship Council share a weekly prayers in assemblies.

 

 

Rev. Jez Wisdom

Rev Jez is part of our school community through our church. He attends assemblies and special days of worship such as Christingle, Patricroft Passion and our Leavers Service. 

 

 

Philippians 4:13

 

 

At Christ Church we learn about other faiths. The children very much enjoy visits to local places of worship such as Eccles Mosque. Where possible we feel it is important to have visits from members of different faith communities. Previous visits have involved visitors from the Muslim faith, Jewish faith and Buddhist faith. We aim to ensure that all of our children at Christ Church understand, tolerate and respect faith in our society. We believe it nurtures and reinforces the Christ-centered Christian values: compassion, respect, care, love and forgiveness. At Christ church, we love, learn and discover to make the right choices, as God's children.